Is your house's roof failing to drain properly? Are you seeing mold growth around your soffit and your roof area? If so, then chances are your gutters need a good cleaning in order to allow them to drain better. Thankfully, this is one of the easier home maintenance tasks that you can do yourself. In this article, we'll teach you the best way to clean gutters so that you can keep your house's roof in tip-top shape even when the heaviest rainstorms threaten their worst.
Grab a Sturdy Ladder
The first step is to grab a sturdy ladder. This step may seem fairly intuitive, but we want to make one point clear: don't sacrifice safety for ease. If you don't have a good sturdy ladder to climb up to your gutters, then go get one. Don't try to balance yourself by stacking a chair on a table or something of that nature.
Chances are, the structures you choose won't be designed to hold your weight in that environment, and you could easily come tumbling down.
Remove Obvious Debris
The first step in gutter cleaning is to remove all of the obvious debris. This will mostly be clumps of leaves, twigs, and branches that have somehow managed to jam themselves in your gutters.
This obvious debris will be the biggest culprit that's been preventing your gutters from draining correctly.
When removing this debris, make sure that you bring a trash bag with you so that you can quickly and easily deposit the debris as you go. Otherwise, you just create more work for yourself by tossing the debris to the ground as you'll have to clean it up sooner or later.
Wash Down With a Hose
The next and final step in gutter cleaning is to wash everything down with a house. This will help to get rid of the less obvious debris that may be more stuck on to your gutters. While this junk may not be piled as high as the other debris that you just removed, it can still impact gutter drainage.
In addition, watering your gutters will also help you locate any clogs that may be unseen at first glance. What's more, if there are any cracks in your system of gutters, this is the perfect time to expose those as well. Once you've found cracks, you can fix them with a simple plug or even some strong flex tape.
Know the Best Way to Clean Gutters
There you have it. Now that you know the best way to clean gutters fast, so all that remains is for you to go outside and start implementing your newfound DIY gutter cleaning knowledge. This is one of the most important home maintenance projects, so don't forget this chore or you could soon be looking at a moldy roof overhanging or even rotted soffit, which is likely a worst-case scenario.
